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India has become one of the fastest-growing internet markets in the world. Now, the market gets another push with telecom companies gearing up to launch the first 5G bands in the country.
Jio Platforms, India’s largest 4G network provider and part of Reliance Industries, has just announced the launch of 5G networks in select cities in India by end of October. Reliance Industries’s chairman Mukesh Ambani said that Jio Platforms will invest $25 bn to deploy 5G telephony with an initial rollout in select metro cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata, followed by a pan-India rollout by December 2023.
Earlier this month, India hold its first-ever 5G auction, where Jio emerged as the biggest spender. The Reliance company bid $11 bn to pick up more than a third of the fifth-generation spectrum strengthening its hold on the Indian internet market.
Besides Jio, India’s 5G auction also saw participation from Bharti Airtel ($5.4 bn), Vodafone Idea ($2.4 bn) and Adani Enterprises ($27 m).
India’s 5G technology race
Aiming to be on par with the global players, India had, in 2018, planned to start 5G services as soon as possible. The government wanted the Indian internet market to capitalise on better network speeds and strength that the technology promises.
The three major private telecom players, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vi, have been urging the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to lay out a clear road map of spectrum allocation and 5G frequency bands so that they would be able to plan the rollout of their services accordingly.
Now, the wait is over as the government has ordered the launch of 5G services in India. According to reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to officially launch the 5G network during the India Mobile Congress (IMC) on September 29.
India’s internet market aims to be the largest
Next to China, India has the second-highest number of smartphone users globally. According to Statista, the penetration rate of smartphones in India in 2020 was 54% and is estimated to reach 96% in 2040.
India’s long-delayed 5G push will help the world’s sixth-largest economy to bridge a technology gap with rivals like China, South Korea and the United States.
The new technology is expected to empower tech companies, enterprises and ecosystem players in India to develop private networks and usher in the next-generation digital transformation in the Indian internet market, which is critical for the country that wants to become a $5 tn digital economy by 2025.
“From digital payments to mobile and semiconductor manufactucturing, we are in a time of change that happens in an era. The digital age is changing around us. It has redefined politics, economy and society,” Modi said during his Independence Day speech on August 15.
